The Lion, The Witch, And The Wormhole
by Cygna-hime
Summary: There are other ways than wardrobes to travel between worlds...


**This is yet another Tsukimineshrine LJ challenge. The challenge went like this: A CCS character wakes up next to someone unexpected. This person cannot be a CCS character or an OC.**

**Unlike everyone else so far, I decided not to write morning-after or semblance thereof, and instead to invoke another fandom's Random Crossover Clause. And guess where the most interdimensional portals of all can be found?**

**Yup. I'm not very sorry at all, Mr. Lewis.**

**I am not C. S. Lewis. I am not CLAMP. This state of affairs seems liable to continue indefinitely.**

**Please note: Dialogue in these is in English, and incomprehensible to some of the people present. Thank you.**

**No warnings. When I think of one, I'll tell you.**

**This is dedicated to my mom, whose idea it is. Happy Mothers' Day!**

**The Lion, The Witch, and The Wormhole**

****

_Tomoeda__, __Japan___

            Sakura was dozing fitfully. Her alarm clock wouldn't go off for another five minutes, and she was bound and determined to get that extra five minutes of sleep. Never mind that Kero-chan would tease her about being lazy, she would be well-rested and lazy, and that was what mattered. With a muffled groan at the sheer quantity of sunlight streaming through the window directly onto her eyelids, Sakura rolled over…onto someone.

            With a scream, she sat bolt upright and stared at the other person in the bed—a person who had quite certainly not been there when she went to sleep. She saw a girl of about her own age, but certainly not her own locality. As if the golden hair wasn't enough clue to that fact, the girl was wearing clothes in a style Sakura had never seen outside of pictures in fairy tales. As she watched, the girl muttered something unintelligible and sat up, rubbing at her eyes blearily.

            Okay, Sue, time to get—what on earth?! The girl stared wide-eyed at Sakura for a moment, then they both screamed.

            "Otousan! Kero! Oniichan! Get in here **now**!"

            Where am I? Who are you? What's going on? Susan, Peter, anyone! Why is no one here?!

            Sakura could hear her family running up the stairs, and soon the door opened and Fujitaka and Touya burst in. At the same moment, Kero fluttered up out of his drawer. All three stared wordlessly at the two girls. Touya was the first to find his voice.

            "Monster, what'd you do _this_ time?"

            "I don't know!" wailed Sakura. "I just woke up and…and she was here! It's not my fault!" The strange girl was still talking very rapidly in a language Sakura could recognize as English, but no more. Kero, however, seemed to be more interested in listening to her than questioning Sakura. He floated over to the girl, and began talking to her.

            Hey, calm down. It's okay, we won't bite. Her reaction was completely different from what Sakura was half expecting; instead of screaming again, she stopped talking briefly and looked at Kero for a moment, before continuing,

            You can understand me?

            Uh-huh. Can you not talk too fast, though? It's been a while since I last used English a lot. My name's Keroberos, what's yours?

            Pleased to meet you, Keroberos. My name is Lucy Pevensie.

            Nice to meet you, kid. S'pose you tell me how you got here.

            I don't know! I went to sleep in the woods in Narnia, and when I woke up I was here, wherever here is. Lucy's eyes filled with tears, and she started to sniff. And I was with Peter and Edmund and Susan, but they're not here! What's going on?

            There now, Kero said, patting her with one yellow paw. We'll find out how you got here, and you'll be back with your friends before you know it. Promise!

            Sakura was still looking back and forth between them with a confused expression when Fujitaka smiled at Lucy and said,

            I'm sorry this had to happen to you, Miss…Pevensie, was it? I'm afraid we aren't certain yet what brought you here, but I'm sure it will be fine. My name is Fujitaka Kinomoto. This is my son, Touya, and my daughter, Sakura.

            Pleased to meet you, Mr. Fujitaka, Touya, Touya, who, if he had not understood everything that had been said, could guess at most of it, smiled kindly at her, Sakura. I'm sorry to have been foisted on you like this. Fujitaka smiled.

            Not at all. Come, let's get you some breakfast. I think Sakura needs a few minutes to get over her shock. "Sakura-san? We're going downstairs to breakfast. After you're ready, come down and join us." Sakura nodded wordlessly.

            With a gentle smile, Fujitaka shepherded Lucy out of the room. Touya left as well, with a casual, "I'm calling you in sick," tossed over his shoulder. Sakura remained seated on her bed.

            "Kero-chan," she began, as calmly as she could manage, "what did she say?"

            "Well, her name's Lucy, and she's just as confused as we are. 'Apparently, she went to sleep outside in some place called Narnia, and woke up here. Poor kid, she's freaked out royally but putting a good face on it."

            "Ah, Kero-chan," Sakura said, "is there any way I can understand her? I don't speak much English." Kero grinned.

            "Sure! It's a pretty simple spell, you should be up to it easy by now. We'll need Yue, though." He raised his voice and called down the stairs, "Oi! 'Niichan! Call up Yuki-usagi, won't ya?" There was a distant agreement, and Kero returned to his explanation. "Now, when he shows up, here's what ya gotta do..."

            Yue was less than pleased with being woken up and dragged over to Sakura's house, but when he saw Lucy, his annoyance was forgotten. By that time, she was wearing some of Sakura's clothes instead of her own outlandish dress, but her appearance was still wholly foreign. The sight of her, and the hesitant smile with which she silently greeted his other form, gave Yue all the explanation he needed. A glance passed between him and Touya, and a silent nod of the latter's head, told Yue far more than any long story could have done.

            The Moon Guardian cut of Kero's beginning explanations with a curt nod, and simply asked,

            "What have you planned to do?"

            "We thought—well, I thought—that I could try a spell so I could understand her. She's English, and I don't speak English very well. Kero-chan explained it to me, and I think it's a good place to start. Is that all right with you, Yue-san?" Yue mentally sighed. He was very fond of his mistress, but he wished she would get over her embarrassment and insecurity enough to stop deferring to him all the time. It made things awkward.

            "Perfectly."

            "Okay, I think I've got all this. Kero-chan, you need to be big, didn't you say?" With a grunt of agreement, the small creature's wings folded around him and soon a lion stood in his place. "Here goes. I call upon the power of the star, sun and moon, forces of East and West. Give me the understanding I seek, and help me to make East speak to West in sympathy. Release!"

            The efficacy of the spell was noticeable immediately. As soon as the light faded, Sakura went downstairs, where she found the conversation between her father and their unexpected guest not only understandable, but no longer distinguishable from Japanese. Touya was no longer in the dining room; his voice was clearly audible from the general direction of the telephone.

            "Oh, it's you…Not really, but that's not-…Akizuki, I don't have time for this, go get Hiiragizawa _now_." A brief pause ensued, during which Yue floated down the stairs, still winged, to the accompaniment of Lucy's stare. "There you are!...No, it's nothing like that, we're all fine…We have a bit of a problem…Magic…I don't care how you get here, get here yesterday!...Sorry…Nobody'll be in the park, this time of day, should be safe…See you." He hung up the phone and explained, mainly for Lucy's benefit.

            "That was Hiiragizawa—Eriol Hiiragizawa, a friend of ours—we're liable to need him around. He should be here in a couple minutes."

            Lucy only heard him with half an ear, as the rest of her was staring unabashedly at Yue. Said guardian responded to her attention with an apprehensive glance; he wasn't sure which was more likely to be forthcoming, a scream, a glomp, or a passable imitation of 'hanyaan' mode, and he didn't particularly fancy any of them. To his surprise, Lucy did none of those things, but asked,

            "If it's not rude to ask, what are you? I've never seen a person with wings before."

            "I'm a magical creation. My name is Yue." Lucy blinked.

            "I didn't know you could make people out of magic."

            "Clow Reed could," Yue said. Seeing Lucy's questioning expression, he continued, "He was the greatest magician in the world. He made Keroberos, there, as well as myself. He—" The doorbell rang, and Touya finished,

            "—Is at the door. Or at least, half of him is. Monster, could you let him in?"

            "Sure!" Her footsteps clattered off, and soon Eriol's voice could be heard, saying in Japanese,

            "Touya-san said you had a bit of a problem you needed my help with. What seems to be the trouble?" Sakura replied, still speaking English,

            "I'm not sure how to explain…I think you'd better come see."

            A moment later, Eriol walked in, dark-haired and neat as ever. His eyes lighted almost immediately on Lucy, and his eyebrows rose.

            "Suppose you tell me what happened."

_Cair Paravel, Narnia_

            "I told you, I don't know where she could have gone!" Susan was nearly in tears. "There was no sign of her anywhere!" Her brothers tried to comfort her, but they were in very little better state themselves. Still, they tried.

            "Sue, calm down. Are you sure all her things were still there?" She nodded. "Everything?"

            "Everything," Susan replied tearfully. "Her clothes, her gear, even her cordial! Look!" She held out a hand. In it rested the tiny glass bottle Lucy had been given for her first Christmas in Narnia.

            "She'd never leave without it," Edmund said. "Peter, you're the High King. What do you think we should do?" Peter sighed. He hated that he was the one to make such decisions. If he was wrong, they might never find Lucy. Still, it was the only thing to do.

            "Assemble a search party, "he said. "We'll start looking from where you were last night, and move outward. She wouldn't have gone far."

            They nodded. None of them would say what they were thinking; what if they never saw their little sister again?

_Tomoeda_

            "So," Eriol was saying, "you went to sleep in Narnia, which is like another world you got into through a magic wardrobe, and when you woke up you were here instead?" Lucy nodded. She had been over everything again and again, and even her spirits were starting to flag. "Have you ever heard of any other way to get into Narnia from somewhere else?"

            "I'm not quite sure," Lucy said. "I've never looked, but sometimes I think Professor Kirke knew more about Narnia than we did in the beginning. I suppose it's possible." Eriol nodded slowly, and leaned back in his chair with a sigh.

            "I think the event that brought you here was something like this: The place where you went to sleep was one of the apparently many places in Narnia where your world—or ours—is almost in Narnia. To put it simply, there was a door there waiting to have the frame put in. When you fell asleep, something about it sensed that you belonged somewhere else, and tried to put you there. Unfortunately, since you weren't awake and thinking of where you wanted to go, you ended up here instead. Does that make sense?"

            "I think so. So, is there a way I can get back?" Sakura glanced nervously at Eriol. This was why Touya had asked him to come, she was sure; Eriol would know, if anyone did. And, if he didn't--? She preferred not to think of that.

            "As it happens, one of the Sakura Cards ought to be admirable for the purpose," Eriol said. "The Return, I think, ought to put you back where you were. There is one slight problem…" he trailed off. They all waited expectantly, before Sakura said,

            "What kind of a problem?"

            "The thing is that if we want to send Lucy directly through the space between worlds, we need to start somewhere the Return can work from very easily, somewhere this world is already close to that. And I can't think of any such place nearby."

            "The Tsukimine Shrine," Sakura and Touya said simultaneously. Sakura continued, "That was where Return showed up at first, and it was activating all on its own. There's a big cherry tree—"

            "Lots of power there," Touya added, "Should be easy to get the spell working." Eriol nodded.

            "That's what we'll do, then. Shall we begin immediately?"

            The Shrine grounds were still in perfect condition, and the huge cherry tree dominated the landscape. Sakura examined it carefully for some signs of the power her brother said he'd seen, but it looked like an ordinary tree to her. Then she turned away…and turned back with a sharp gasp. For a moment, the center of the tree trunk had been like the center of a star. Spots danced across her eyes, but when she looked again, all seemed as ordinary as it had before. Touya, who had been looking at her sidelong, nodded.

            "You can't see it straight on, at first, especially not at your age. This's a tricky one, sneaky. You'll get the hang of it after a while." Sakura looked at her brother curiously. He was looking straight at the tree, as if he could see perfectly clearly what she had seen for only a moment, but she knew he could not. He would never see the magic again.

            "Oniichan," Sakura said, dropping back into Japanese, "do you wish you could still see it?" Touya shook his head.

            "Why would I? I still can." With an amused glance at the uncomprehending look on Sakura's face, he explained, "In my head, silly. The magic around here doesn't change much, and I've got a decent memory. Besides, this tree here is an old friend." He nodded casually to the huge cherry tree. "Good to see you again."

            Sakura wanted to say something, somehow tell her brother how much she owed him for his quiet strength, but Kero called for her, and the moment passed. She walked over to stand by her guardians' sides. Eriol was saying,

            "Lucy, please stand directly under the tree, if you don't mind. Just back a few steps from the front. There, that's right. Now, Sakura, I'm going to help as much as I can, but this is a very powerful spell and you know I'm not as strong as I used to be. It's going to be a drain on us all, but I expect you will feel it less than us." With a nod, he gestured for Sakura to stand on the opposite side of Lucy from where he was standing. Yue and Kero—in his big form now—waited behind her. "Lucy, is there somewhere in particular you would like to be when you return?"

            "Back where I was would be fine," she said, "if anyone's looking for me, that's where they'll be."

            "All right," he continued, "then the spell is simple. Sakura, you're going to have to actually cast Return, so be sure you use the right words. The spell you need is…" he trailed off and stared into the middle distance, lips moving silently, "'Open an entry for the return of one out of place, Return Card.' Can you say that?"

            "Of course!" With a smile, Sakura released her staff and took a card from her pocket. "All set!"

            "We won't be able to maintain the spell for long, so it's important that you get through the opening as soon as you can," Eriol said to Lucy. She nodded, pale in the face.

            "So, whenever you're ready," said Eriol, whose staff was also in his hand. Sakura stood firmly on the path, and recited,

            "Open an entry for the return of one out of place, Return Card!"

            The effect was immediate and violent. The card glowed brilliant white, and a shadowy vortex began to form in the center of the tree. Sakura saw from the corner of her eye Eriol sinking slowly to one knee, leaning on his staff as he forced more and more power through it. Her eyes felt as if they were open incredibly wide. She could see Yue's and Kero's hands outstretched towards her, and the delicate lines like veins in blue and gold that were their magics gliding through their bodies and out at their fingertips. She could even see the tree's own magic lending her strength. With a cry, she forced all of the power into opening the gate. It opened. The portal widened, and through it could be seen a forest in springtime. Lucy ran to it, somehow taking more time than the few steps warranted, and jumped through. As she fell back out of their world, she waved a hand to them all and called,

            "Goodbye! And thank you!"

            She was gone. Sakura gratefully released her hold on Return, and it slipped back into her pocket of its own accord. She was tired, but not unduly so. Her companions were more affected. Eriol stood slowly, leaning heavily on his staff. His face was pale, and his glasses had slipped sideways, making him look more than ever like her father after a long day. Yue and Kero silently relaxed into peaceful slumber, shifting back to their false forms as they did so.

            With a sigh, Sakura surveyed her exhausted friends. How was she to get them all back home in one piece? Magic was out of the question; she had no strength left to cast another spell, and she could hardly carry both Kero and Yukito. Her answer presented itself in the form of Touya, who knelt and gently lifted Yukito into his arms. With a lopsided smirk, he tossed Kero in her direction. She caught the stuffed animal automatically, and opened her mouth to thank him, but was cut off with a,

            "This is becoming a habit." In typical silence, he started off towards their house. Sakura followed, only to have the stillness interrupted.

            "He's always like that," Eriol said, "isn't he. More selfless than he wants anyone to think. I wonder where he got it from. Certainly not from his father's side." It was just like Eriol that his voice was, though quiet, not the slightest bit rough or unusual. Sakura looked at Eriol, who was probably getting jet lag from teleporting halfway around the world to help them, and then at Touya, and the lines of a pale hand resting on his shoulder. She smiled.

            "I think there's a family resemblance."

_Narnia_

Lucy reappeared in the same place she had vanished from. Unfortunately, she also appeared a few feet in the air, so she landed with an undignified thump. Before she had more than brushed herself off, she was being variously hugged, scolded, and questioned by her three siblings.

            "Where have you _been_? We were so worried!" said Susan.

            "The whole country's in a panic, you've been gone for hours," said Peter.

            "Why are you wearing those strange clothes?" said Edmund.

            "_What happened_?" they all said at once.

            Lucy laughed and hugged her siblings.

            "I've had an adventure, and I met the most wonderful people! I met a talking stuffed animal, and a man with wings, and..."

_The End_ (If there is such a thing as an end in Narnia)

**Yipes, this is huge! Well, it'll make up for the mini-fic I've been turning out lately. See what happens when you inspire me?!**

**I'm rusty on some of the characters and speech patterns, so I'd love to hear if you think they sound enough like themselves. I actually think this worked fairly well, considering. What can I improve, or fix next time? What was your favorite part? Thanks for reading!**


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